Waubonsie Valley happy with regional outcome
Some might have thought Waubonsie Valley senior Elton Manuel was tiring in the third period of his championship match Saturday at the Class 3A Neuqua Valley wrestling regional.
After all, the Warriors 160-pounder had seen his 5-1 first-period lead sliced to 6-5 by Oswego East’s Zach Prinz (28-5), who had beaten him earlier this season.
But no one should ever question Manuel’s conditioning or his heart. He quickly answered Prinz’s escape to open the period with a takedown for an 8-5 lead, then put an exclamation point on his first varsity title with a pin at the 5:09 mark.
To prove his energy level, as well as to show just how much the victory meant, Manuel sprinted off the mat and proceeded to race from one end of the gymnasium to the other before charging toward Warriors coach Brad Caldwell for some high-fiving.
Manuel (33-8), one of six Warriors to qualify for sectionals, was clearly not the only person thrilled by his achievements.
“He’s never tired, so we call the last period Elton time,” said Caldwell, whose team finished fourth in the team standings. “I’m very happy for him. No one works harder than him, and today was the first day he’s ever gotten a (championship) bracket board.”
Now Manuel may just take another big step and wrestle well enough at the Lincoln-Way Central sectional to find himself headed downstate.
“The goal is to make it to state,” said Manuel, who avenged a conference loss to Neuqua Valley’s Drelyn Hunt with a 5-4 decision in the regional semis. “I’ve got to go out and wrestle like I did today.”
Eight Neuqua Valley wrestlers were strong enough on Saturday to advance — including a trio of regional champs — but a sluggish first round opened the door for Plainfield Central to take the team title and advance to the team sectional. With four champs and two runners-up, Plainfield Central totaled 170 points, while the hosts were second at 142. Oswego took third at 126 while the Warriors were a close fourth at 122.50.
“We had a tough first round and we can’t give Plainfield that much and expect them to falter,” Neuqua coach Mick Ruettiger said. “It was nice that in the second and third rounds we picked it up and got back into the tournament.”
Neuqua picked up its first title of the day when Connor Swier (34-3) defeated Waubonsie’s Mitch Kroening 6-1 in the finals at 170, then the final at 195 also saw a Wildcat hold off a rival as Vince Marrone notched his 30th win of the season when he edged Waubonsie’s Luis Cisneros 3-2.
The Wildcats also had finalists in the night’s final two weight classes as Casey Greenberg (35-5) beat Bolingbrook’s Isaac Jensen for the title at 220, and teammate Andrew Geers (30-3) settled for second with an injury default that gave the crown to Bolingbrook’s undefeated Rob Bain.
Area wrestlers fared pretty well in the make-or-break third-place bouts where Warrior Malcolm McSwain won at 182, while Neuqua’s Hunt (160), Matt Slavik (152) and Justin Killacky (113) each won critical matches to extend their seasons. Also moving on after finishing second are Jimmy Davis (32-11 at 132 pounds for the Warriors), Howard Beatty (17-8 at 138 for the Warriors), and Nick Parker (31-12 at 182 for the Wildcats).